Conor McCarthy is a co-founder of AirAsia, which is now Asia’s largest low-fares airline

Stobart Air, which operates the Aer Lingus Regional brand, has announced the appointment of former Ryanair director of group operations Conor McCarthy as non-executive chairman of its board.

Mr McCarthy has 39 years’ experience in the aviation industry, and has previously acted as chief executive of Aer Lingus Commuter and as director of group operations for Ryanair.

He is currently executive chairman of Dublin Aerospace and managing director of PlaneConsult, which provides a range of consultancy services.

He is also a co-founder of AirAsia which was established in 2001 and is now Asia’s largest and most successful low-fares airline, with 210 aircraft and 65 million passengers a year.

Stobart Air, which morphed out of Aer Arann, operates up to 860 flights weekly across 43 routes throughout 11 European countries from bases in the UK and Ireland. The airline employs more than 570 people.

Its Irish routes include short-haul flights from Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Donegal.

In June, the company announced plans to invest €25 million in an expansion of the business.